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Perhaps most jarring, each game's promotional artwork ended up looking dramatically different from what came before it, as pointed out by a recent thread on popular message board NeoGAF, giving a taste of a game industry without brand managers. Even the Double Dragon Neo-Geo versus fighting game, which was theoretically based on the live action movie, looked nothing like the movie.

It was a cartoon, a movie, and a comic book - and if you put the three side-by-side, it becomes a 'Where's Waldo?' game spotting the similarities. It has kid-friendly art in some games, but edgy content in others.

It started as a side-scrolling brawler, but later became a versus fighter. Part of Double Dragon's struggle over the years, as Kishimoto laments, is that it's long been one of the game industry's least consistent franchises. Shortly after Road Blaster's release, Kishimoto received a call from a headhunter. One of those was Data East competitor Technos, which wanted in on the laser disc business. Neither reached Dragon's Lair's earnings, but both found loyal fans. Kishimoto developed games that mixed flashy cartoon-like visuals with over-the-top action: helicopter combat in Cobra Command and car chases in Road Blaster.

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This was the era of Dragon's Lair showering arcades in quarters, thanks to laser disc-based hardware enabling games with full screen animation, and Data East had its own take on the technology. 'THERE WAS A GIRL AND SHE DUMPED ME, WHICH PULLED THE TRIGGER.' After a few early experiments, he began making a name for himself heading up laser disc titles. Like many artists, Kishimoto saw his empire begin with a girl and a break-up.įresh out of art school in the early '80s, he landed a position as a game designer at Data East, which he describes as 'like being in school' since he learned a lot on the job. When games are this successful, it can be hard to stay away. Yet today in 2012, Technos is long dead, and he's once again working on both series. He cites it as one of his main regrets and part of the reason he left the company years later. 'For better or worse,' he says in an interview with Polygon, he simultaneously built an empire and backed himself into a corner where Technos didn't want him to work on much else.

Over the course of a year, he'd created the two biggest franchises Technos would ever have. It worked and the game exploded, becoming one of the industry's most popular titles, doubling his salary, and cementing his job security. He and his team followed with Double Dragon, another arcade brawler, this time with an art style designed to appeal internationally. In 19, Yoshihisa Kishimoto could do little wrong.įour months into a new job at developer Technos, he led a team to complete side-scrolling arcade brawler Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, the first in a franchise that would spawn more than 30 games in Japan. A rare interview with the director of 1987's breakout side-scrolling brawler.

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